Comments on: DEP losing money on State land leases

By: unprovincial

unprovincial — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:24:17 +0000

What is disturbing is that although DEP is now spending the time (and money) to recoup some of those back fees, they are unrecoverable in the case of a Responsible Party dying or going bankrupt. Lost opportunity. And of course there is no interest on all that money that remained with the Responsible Party for up to 20 yrs because it was DEP who dropped the ball. And is anyone held responsible? Of course not! This is government! The only thing that MIGHT happen is that those who let it happen before will be promoted “out of the way” to a higher paying position.
As for the audit, I think it was comprehensive but I don’t know. One thing Corzine has done (or those he appointed) was more audits. However, instead of changing how the billing is done and who is doing it, it’s pretty much business as usual. There may be a change in who is in charge because there are new suckups for a new administration but no heads will roll…………and these mgmt types aren’t in the union. Their only protection is what it has always been: their friends and family in high places.

By: nohesitation

nohesitation — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:24:31 +0000

unprovincial – you speak from experience.
I wish the press, public, and legislature understood how much money was involved – the last audit of DEP RTK and SRP programs found something like $10 million in uncollected fees and fines.
Did that audit consider the oversight costs you are talking about?
If not, why isn’t DEP subject to comprehensive audit?

By: unprovincial

unprovincial — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:44:21 +0000

No surprise here. At DEP, the people put in charge of billing and invoicing are often given the positions because of who, not what they know. Take Site Remediation for instance. It was reported to staff months ago that some Responsible Parties had not been billed for staff time to review and supervise remedial work going back to the 1980s!!! How can that happen? No one had an answer but I think we all know the truth: no one cares to go after the money because it goes to Treasury anyway. I bet they would be more proactive about getting the polluters to pay their invoices if the money went directly to DEP. But that doesn’t excuse the mismanagement and bad accounting. The problem is that DEP puts people WITH NO ACCOUNTING BACKGROUND into positions normally held by accountants in the private sector. Sometimes they are people who simply got tired of their technical or clerical job and if they are connected to some rising star, then they hang onto their coat tails. It’s the DEP way.

By: nohesitation

nohesitation — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:07:14 +0000

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